ITV Period Drama

Peterloo (2018)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Various actors in film 'Peterloo' standing on a stage, surrounded by a cheering crowd

Peterloo 2018 ©IMDb

Writer / Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley
Production Company: BFI Film Fund
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham and St Mary’s Marshes

Oscar nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh (Mr Turner) portrays one of England’s bloodiest episodes, the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Government guards charged and attacked a peaceful protest held by 80,000 people in Manchester demanding democratic reform.

Peterloo (2018) stars Rory Kinnear (Spectre, The Imitation Game) as Henry Hunt, Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, The Village) as Nellie, Pearce Quigley (The Rovers) as Joshua.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a well-known film location in Kent and has been used on many projects. Production used the Tarred Yarn Store and the exterior of the Ropery to double as a Cotton Mill in Manchester.

With its Victorian and Georgian architecture, the Dockyards provides many varied locations and has also appeared in Victoria and Abdul (2017), Mr Turner (2014) and Downton Abbey (2013) among others.

St Mary’s Marshes on the Isle of Grain appears in a short scene at the beginning of the film, a lonely figure walking along the marshes. The marshes are on the Isle of Grain, between the River Thames and the River Medway. The Medway area has been used in various TV Series and films such as Black Sea (2014).

The film will be released in the UK on 2nd November 2018.

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map. 

Vanity Fair (2018)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
Poster for Vanity Fair series- women in long red dress sat on a gold chair with her feet up on a globe model.

Poster for Vanity Fair series ©ITV Studio

 

Writer:  Gwyneth Hughes

Director: James Strong

Starring: Olivia Cooke, Suranne Jones, Martin Clunes

Production Company: Mammoth Screen

Kent Locations Used: Deal, Dover, Sevenoaks and Medway

This new ITV series is an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic Victorian novel Vanity Fair. Set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, it follows the life of a beautiful and determined woman named Becky Sharp (Olivia Cooke) as she attempts to claw her way out of poverty and climb straight to the top of 19th century English Society.

Starring Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One, Bates Motel) as the antihero Becky Sharp, Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Scott and Bailey) as Miss Pinkerton, Martin Clunes (Doc Martin, Men Behaving Badly) as Sir Pitt Crawley, Michael Palin (Monty Python, Remember Me) as Thackeray, Tom Bateman (Snatched, Into The Dark) as Captain Rawdon Crawley.

A cottage on Chevening House Estate was used for filming and featured as Rawdons’ (Tom Bateman) Cottage. This location is situated at the foot of the North Downs in Sevenoaks with extensive parkland surrounding it. It is set aside for official Government business.

A scene on the promenade, featuring soldiers and horses was filmed outside the Royal Hotel in Deal. The town is situated on the South Coast of Kent and has a longstanding naval history as one of the major Cinque Ports and many period features remain.

Squerryes Court in Sevenoaks was also used for filming Miss Pinkertons’ (Suranne Jones) school interiors. This location is a beautiful 17th century manor house which has been in the residence of the Warde family since 1731. It is surrounded with 20 acres of attractive and historic gardens which includes a lake and 18th century dovecote. Previous films that have used this location are The Hollow Crown: Henry V (2012) and The Boat that Rocked (2009).

The Historic Chatham Dockyard was also used. Production filmed various London street scenes outside the Ropery, as well as Anchor Wharf for an embarkation to France and the interior of Commissioners House. The Historic Chatham Dockyard built many ships for the Royal Navy over the last 400 years, including HMS Victory, and it is the home of the Royal Rope Makers, having produced ropes since 1618. It is a popular filming location which offers many period locations, authentic cobbled streets and three historic warships. The Dockyard has previously been featured in films such as Suffragette (2015) and Mr Turner (2014).

Vanity Fair begins on 2nd September 2018 at 9pm on ITV, with episode two airing the next day, on Monday (3rd September 2018). It will then continue for 5 Sunday nights at 9pm.

 

 

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map. 

 

 

 

Harlots (2017)

Posted on by Kent Film Office

Charlotte Wells [Jessica Brown Findlay] and Daniel Marney [Rory Fleck-Byrne] © Monumental Television

Creators: Alison Newman, Moira Buffini
Writers: Moira Buffini, Jane English, Cat Jones, Debbie O’Malley
Starring: Samantha Morton, Jessica Brown Findlay, Lesley Manville, Eloise Smyth, Holli Dempsey, Kate Fleetwood
Production Company: Monumental Pictures, Independent Television (ITV)
Kent Locations Used: The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Already hotly debated in the press, ITV’s risqué eight part series, Harlots (2017-2019), takes us back to London 1763 when one in five women sold their body. The story follows brothel owner Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), her daughters Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Lucy (Eloise Smyth) and their rival, Madam Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville).

Marie-Louise D’Aubigne (Poppy Corby-Teuch) and three friends sitting in a row of chairs with curtains behind

Marie-Louise D’Aubigne (Poppy Corby-Teuch) and other Harlots © Monumental Television

The series was inspired by Jack Harris’ stories collected in Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies, a directory that contained a list of prostitutes, with their age, price and ‘specialities’.

The new drama stars Samantha Morton (The Walking Dead, Minority Report) as Margaret Wells, Jessica Brown Findlay (Victor Frankenstein (2015), Brave New World (2020)) as Charlotte Wells, Lesley Manville (Mr Turner (2014), All or Nothing (2002)) as Lydia Quigley, Eloise Smyth (The Frankenstein Chronicles, Fortitude) as Lucy Wells, Holli Dempsey (Derek (2013), The Aliens) as Emily Lacey and Kate Fleetwood (Victoria, The Wheel of Time) as Nancy Birch.

The Tarred Yarn Store at Chatham Dockyard was used as the interior and exterior of a riverside tavern in Series One.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a popular filming location with variety of Georgian and Victorian architecture, maritime environment, dry dock, cobbled streets and industrial buildings. Call the Midwife (2012-2022), SS-GB (2017) and The Crown (2016-2020) are just a few of the productions that were filmed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Harlots premieres on ITV Encore on Monday 27th March at 10:00PM and on Hulu on Wednesday 29th March.

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.

The Halcyon (2017)

Posted on by Kent Film Office
The Halcyon cast standing in a hall on a small staircase,

The Halcyon © ITV

Writer: Charlotte Jones

Starring: Kara Tointon, Steven Mackintosh, Alex Jennings, Olivia Williams, Jamie Blackley, Edward Bluemel, Hermione Corfield, and Matt Ryan

Production Company: Left Bank Pictures, ITV

Kent Locations Used: The Ropery and Anchor Wharf at The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Set in the 1940s, ITV’s The Halcyon charts the lives of staff and guests in a five-star hotel during World War II. The story is told from the point of view of Joe O’Hara (Matt Ryan), an American journalist and illustrates how the war permeated all areas of London life; be it that of the guests seeking an escape from the war or the forbidden love affair of the hotel’s resident jazz singer, Betsy (Kara Tointon). Samuel Sim’s soundtrack punctuates the action with sultry jazz tunes, and will be released the day the show airs.

The Halcyon brings together an incredible ensemble cast, including Kara Tointon (Eastenders, The Sound of Music Live!), Alex Jennings (The Queen, Babel) and Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, An Education), Steven Mackintosh (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Sope Dirisu (Undercover, Humans) and Matt Ryan (Constantine, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour).

Exterior scenes of bombed London streets were shot at The Ropery and on Anchor Wharf, at  The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent.

Set over 80 acres in the Medway area of Kent, The Historic Dockyard Chatham has more than  100 Georgian and Victorian buildings as well as cobbled streets and dock spaces. The Historic Dockyard Chatham has previously welcomed filming from The Crown (2016), Partners in Crime  (2015) and Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows  (2011).

The Halcyon premiered on Monday 2nd January 2017 at 21:00 on ITV

 

For more information about Kent’s Filming History please visit our Movie Map.